Paste your essay in here… The aim of this thesis is to study how design can influence the experiences of the auditors who are sensitive to sound and attempt to be involved with particular sound environments for relaxation and healing. As technology of sound has been developed in modern society, there are a number of ways that the auditors can have the experience of sound for healing by using audio technology, or conversely pursue a sound through an analogue system far from digital sound. Depending on their tastes, they have unique ways of listening to sound which are varied from silence to nature to comfort themselves exhausted by everyday life. Among the people who are living an urban life, some citizens are more interested in the quality and content of sound they are listening to since they have limited time to be involved with sound environment. According to UN, 66% of the world population will be living in urban areas. In other words, modern people are “in danger of drowning in an ocean of noise” which threatens their life by disturbing their sleep and relaxation that cause stress and even hearing problems. Thus, it might be an interesting subject to study how modern auditors find their ways to sounds which can rehabilitate their life and, in this process, how design affects the ways of experiencing the sounds.
Literature Review
Noises from Neighbours
As Brandon LaBelle (2015) states, “the modern soundscape increasingly consists of a high degree of harsh noises” that impose themselves “indiscriminately and with an increased level of disturbance upon the body, society, and the environment” (200). Indeed, the impact of urban life on human mental health has been significant than ever.
It seems that the citizens have difficulties to have a time for relaxing even at their private space. Due to the thin walls between their home and neighbours, many city dwellers are suffered from the noises which affect “more than 21 million homes in the UK, almost a third of the population” (Naylor, 2008). Mary Stevens, a noise specialist at the charity Environmental Protection UK, asserts that in 2008 “more than half a million people are moving home because of noise problems” (Cited in Naylor, 2008).
The Government of UK has tried to resolve this problem, and in 2002 they introduced building regulation which contains the rules that all new buildings must meet the approved level of sound insulation. However, this means that the dwellers living in a house built before 2002 are still disturbed their life by the sounds from their next doors. In this case, Naylor (2008) suggests that they have three options: try to talk with their neighbours; contact the council; or install additional soundproof facility.
It seems that the people living in a city cannot be escape from the noises which cause physical and mental stress. Listening to sounds or staying in a silence can be the effective ways of healing themselves from the stress by the noises around them.
2. Sound as a Way of Healing
There are various sounds which can be helpful to the people who have been suffered from living noises. As Goldstein Barry (2016) insists, “one of the reasons that music can be such a strong vehicle for transformation is its ability to shift our emotions in a positive way” (3). According to Amanda MacMillan (2017), there is “a scientific explanation for why sounds from nature have such as restorative effect on our psyche”. The sounds of nature physically change the state in our brains which reduce “our body’s natural fight-or-flight instinct” (MacMillan 2017). Indeed, natural sounds are linked to green environment and relaxation. As the result of a new research in the journal Scientific Reports shows, nature sounds are related to “an increase in parasympathetic response – the one that helps the body relax and function in normal circumstance” (MacMillan 2017). Once people find a nature sound which they love, it may help improve their concentration on their work.
Also, Florence Waters (2014) insists, silence (no talking, books, or phones) can be another way of healing since it helps the people to fall into a state of mediation. According to Guy Burgs, “there’s a powerful healing process that happens to all of us when we start to commit to reorganising our mind and bring it back to a coherent state through meditation” (Citied in Waters 2014). It means that silence can help the people to make their inner state peaceful, which allows them to focus on their inner condition and restore the strength to continue their life full of noises.
Interestingly, simple sounds from our everyday life can be also used for healing the stressful people. In fact, everything around us is composed of certain energy which is traveling at speeds and frequencies. As Aletheia Luna (2015) points out, “sound is a vibration, and we already all of life exists at its core as vibrating atoms” (emphasis in original). Naturally, people are influenced by the vibrations transmitted by certain sounds. Among them, particular sounds with low frequency or the noises associated with Alpha or Theta brain waves are related to relaxation and mediation. These sounds as a form of therapy and healing might be from not only musical instruments like gong, wind chimes, pan flute, and djembe, but also any sounds from our everyday life.
3. Choice of Sound for Relaxation
Since there are many different sounds, people can choose their preferred sound which can be useful for them to feel relaxed and comfortable. According to Carolyn Kenny (2005), “depending on situation and mood, music can evoke different feelings at different times. Some might even say that the same music is actually heard differently at different times” (29, emphasis in original). As each individual has different tastes, they have their own way of enjoying particular sounds that lead them to a peaceful state. As David Harber (2013) insists, “repeating a sound or word is the most popular meditative device” (206). Depending on the state of their own bodies, the listeners attempt to choose suitable sound for their body to be relaxed. According to a study in 2016, Wilson (2018) states that “how it works depends on the methods of sound healing”. It is common that people are sitting or lying down in a room while they are listening to their chosen sounds from audio speakers or instruments for their relaxation. Or they can sing, play a musical instrument, or remain quiet to listen to sound as a way of healing themselves.
Critique
1. What to do with Noises
According to Salome Voegelin (2010), “noise is other people’s music” (44). In other words, their neighbours are forced to experience other people’s musical tastes in their peaceful time, and the sound becomes noise. Voegelin also states that “Noise of the everyday and Noise-art are debated as extrem sounds that take possession of one’s ears by one’s own free will and against it, isolating the listener in the heard” (44). In an urban space, noise can reveal the politics of social relations and spaces within a building and people between next doors. There are few ways to exclude other sounds which they do not want to hear by creating their own space full of the sound that they love or making themselves deafened by using ear plugs specially design to cancel any noises.
From a different perspective, the noises can be a favourable sound to other people. In 1952, as John Cage filled his concert room for 4¢33² with the sound of the environment as a form of music, which challenged the definition of music and musical experience by broadening the aesthetics of music and art. Likewise, the sounds of our daily life can turn into music at any moment if people can feel anything from the sound, find any patterns and rhythm since “the environment is musically generative” (Hadero 2015). Thus, unlike its negative connotation, the word, noise, can be beautiful like the sound of nature, language, and daily life.
Max Neuhaus (2015) also states that:
people heard the sound that they were making but also the other people [through their own radio] that were combined with them. At that moment it became a group activity – a process of people making sound together, listening to it, and adjusting what they did according to what was going on. I think this is the heart of the musical process- this dialogue. (46)
By being sensitive to what is already there, it is possible to create situations which can draw together the sounds around us which bridge between musicality and noise, private and public. As the example and the arguments by scholars show, the idea about noise needs to be broadened and challenged to discuss its meaning and importance more deeply.
2. Sound Quality rather than Types of Music
MacMillan insists that sounds particularly from nature is helpful to people by changing the state of their brains. However, the sound of nature is not only one that makes the people feel comfortable and relaxation. One of the important points of sound healing is not simply about what kind of music people listen to, but about the quality of the sound. In fact, our “body and all matter exist at different rates of vibration” (Attuned Vibration, 2018). For this reason, it plays a significant role in our life by influencing physical and mental levels. Hans Jenny also argues that “physical healing could be aided by vibrational tones” (Cited in Attuned Vibration 2018). Gentle vibration can give listeners a feeling that they really exist in a particular moment. Also, people tend to feel comfortable when they listen to the sound with high frequency. Although there might be difficulties to confirm exactly how low frequency sound affects human health, many people “who are exposed to low frequency sound experience adverse health effects and damaged hearing” (QuietOn, 2017). By listening to the sound with good quality and appropriate frequency and vibration, people can experience the power of sound that actually heal our mind, body, and soul. In addition, as Rob Nightingale (2015) states, “there’s no denying that music has a powerful ability to shape our environment”. This means that the tempo, chord changes, and rhythm of a sound can affect the emotions of its listeners who are able to concentrate on not only themselves but also people and space around them. In order to figure out which sound is appropriate to each person, he or she needs to have experiences of listening to various sounds with good quality.
3. Acoustic Ecology in a Residential Community
Julian Treasure (2011) insists that “we are losing our listening” as we are living with cacophony which makes us hard to listen. He states that “listening is our access to understanding” and in particular “conscious listening” is an important technique since it creates understanding. In order to listen well, people need to improve this “conscious listening” by training ourselves through four ways: Keep silence for three minutes in a day; distinguish how many channels we can hear; Enjoy mundane sounds; Move our listening position to what’s appropriate to what we’re listening to. This training can be useful to figure out what sound we want to hear, and what condition we want to live. Also, it helps people to be familiar with the noises around them. Since they cannot escape from their living space, it is necessary to deal with such noises by making their own position or attitude toward the sound changed. By practicing the “conscious listening”, they can live fully connected to physical world around them, which again allows them to connect in understanding to other people. By recognising what people are listening, he says, people can “open the door to a wonderful new dimension of experience, adding to the richness of [their] reality and enhancing [their] wellbeing, effectiveness and happiness” (212). Rather than avoiding the problems caused by noises from outside house and next door, it is necessary to face the matter directly and attempt to seek a wise way to resolve the problem for the welfare of the community.
Design (800)
Muzo
Fig 1. Muzo (TAK Audio Innovation Agency, 2016)
Muzo provides customers with an easy way to create their personal sound environment with digital technology. By generating vibrations like white noise, this product blocks the noises surrounded. There is mobile application which is used to customise the mode of vibration for each different mood. Therefore, Muzo looks as simple as Bluetooth speakers with only few buttons. This product can be stick to any smooth surfaces such as wood or glass, and also it looks simple so that it can be easily harmonised with any object in a room.
Cork Helmet
Fig 2. Cork Helmet (Treggiden, 2015)
This helmet is made of cork which absorbs any sound and makes the users remain in peaceful state without noises from outside. The designer, Pierre-Emmanuel Vandeputte reveals states that “From time to time, when you get bored of the daily doldrum, you might need something like a break – to escape from the place you are in”. The design of the helmet comes from the designer’s observation of modern society where people are surrounded by noise pollution and there is nothing to protect themselves from it. This product connects the users and their environment while helping them to escape from the space they don’t like.
Acoustic Panel
Fig 3. Baux Acoustic Panels (Baux, 2018)
Acoustic Panel protects the users and their neighbours from the noises in their indoor building. The panel has numerous tiles that absorb sounds, which reduces the level of decibel between the wall connecting a room to another room. Comparing to other acoustic panels, this product seems to be more suitable for domestic environment because of not only the variety of colour and shape but also its weight and thickness which allow the product to be attached to the wall safely. However, due to the price, it has been more used in offices and larger spaces rather than a two bedroom flat in central London. Thus, it needs to be re-designed to be used in smaller spaces.
BeoSound
Fig 4. BeoSound (Tucker, 2017)
In general, audio speakers are considered as products making sound which can be terrible noises for neighbour. However, BeoSound’s wireless wall-mounted panels not only produce musical sound but also absorb noises in a room, which improves the condition of indoor acoustics. The users can add the number of the honeycomb shape panels as much as they want to make the general design of the room looked aesthetically beautiful. However, to maintain the design, the panel should be thin to be attached to the wall, which ultimately affect the speakers’ sound quality. Also, once the panels are attached to the wall, it is difficult to remove them from it, this product seems not to be suitable for those who are living in a flat if they are renting it.
Furniture Music
Fig 5. Furniture Music (Morris, 2018)
The purpose of Furniture Music is to resolve the causes of noises in a domestic space. This allows the users to see the opportunity of noises which can be useful and playful if they are used in different condition through additional devices attached to each kitchen appliance. People are struggling with noises not only from the outside of their houses but also from inside of them. Since they cannot totally block the noises, they need to find a way to use the noises in a positive direction and enjoy them. It is interesting that people can experiment with various noises around them and think of the soundscape in their space. However, people tend to think noises with negative images, it might be difficult to change their mind so that this product might not be considered as the best way.
Domestic Sound
Fig 7. Domestic Sound (Fairs, 2007)
The purpose of ‘Domestic Sound’ is to show how the noises from a home appliance can be quiet in a visual way as well as an auditory effect. By muffling the home gadget with fabric, the designer attempts to make the audience feel that they hear reduced noise level of the machine. Also, it can be replaced with other gadget whose sound is quiet instead of electronics like a vacuum. While the machine is making low level of sound, the audience can enjoy music, have conversation with their family members or friends, or hear any sounds around them.
Goldmund
Fig 7.Goldmund (hifi.nl, 2018)
This product shows the philosophy of Goldmund with the most recent technology. Since sound is a vibration, the design of the product and material use need to be thought in relation to controlling vibration. To minimising the vibrations caused by sound, the body of the speaker is divided into five enclosures which are connected by tips of spikes through which mechanical grounding can work. To make a balance among each part, the machine supports itself against a black steel stand. The mechanical grounding allows the vibration from each enclosure to move from the soft steel (inside of the enclosures or the enclosures themselves) to the harder one (a black steel stand).